Irving v. Lipstadt

Transcripts

I submit that, harsh though it may seem, the 1happened over the last 32 years on my writing desk in my 2apartment off Grosvenor Square. That is what is at stake 3here. 4 To justify her allegations of manipulation and 5distortion, it will not suffice for Professor Lipstadt to 6show, if she can, that I misrepresented what happened, but 7that I knew what happened and that I perversely and 8deliberately, for whatever purpose, portrayed it 9differently from how I knew it to have happened. 10 That is what manipulation and distortion means, 11and the other, though fundamental, story of what actually 12happened is neither here nor there. In effect, this 13enquiry should not leave the four walls of my study, my 14Lord. It should look at the papers that lay before me and 15not before some other magnificently funded research or 16scholar, and at the manuscript that I then produced on the 17basis of my own limited sources. 18 My Lord, if we were to seek a title for this 19libel action, I would venture to suggest "Pictures at an 20execution" -- my execution. 21 Your Lordship may or not be aware that I have 22had a reputation as an historian and as an investigative 23writer arising from the 30 or so works which I have 24published in English and other languages over the years 25since 1961. I am the author of many scores of articles in 26serious and respected newspapers, including over the years

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1in this country, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday 2Telegraph, the Jewish Chronicle, the Sunday Express, the 3Evening Standard, Encounter and publications of similar 4repute in Germany. My articles have appeared in 5newspapers ranging from Die Welt, Die Welt am Sonntag, and 6magazines and journals like Stern, Der Spiegel, Neue 7Illustrierte, Quick. 8 My books have appeared between hard covers under 9the imprint of the finest publishing houses. I might 10mention in this country the imprints of William Kimber 11Ltd, Cassell & Company Ltd, Macmillan Limited, Hodder & 12Stoughton, Penguin -- Penguin, the First Defendants in 13this action -- and Allen Lane and others. As the Second 14Defendant is, I understand, an American citizen, it might 15be meritorious for me to add that my works have also been 16published by her country's leading publishing houses too, 17including the Viking Press, Little, Brown, Simon & 18Schuster, Holt, Reinhardt, Winston, St Martin's Press and 19a score of no less reputable paperback publishing houses. 20 Each of those published works by me contained in 21or near the title page a list of my previous publications 22and frequently a sample of the accolades bestowed on my 23works by the leading names of literature and 24historiography on both sides of the Atlantic. 25 This happy situation, namely having my works 26published in the leading publishing houses of the world,

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1ended a year ago, a year or two ago, under circumstance 2which I shall venture, if your Lordship permits, to set 3out later in my remarks. Suffice it to say that this very 4day, during the night, the Australia/Israel Review has 5published in Sydney, Australia, a presumably well-informed 6article (of which I have provided a copy to your Lordship; 7I have marked the sentence on which I rely) coming as it 8does from their corner, which provides one missing link in 9the circumstances under which St Martin's Press finally 10terminated their contract to publish my book, "Goebbels. 11Mastermind of the Third Reich". I quote: 12 "... One of the catalysts for the case was 13Irving's", they are talking about this action today, 14 "experience with American publisher, St Martin's Press, 15which, after being warned by Lipstadt and others about 16Irving's approach to history, then cancelled its agreement 17to publish Irving's book 'Goebbels. Mastermind of the 18Third Reich' in the United States." 19 So these Defendants have done very real damage 20to my professional existence. May I, first of all, set 21out the very real pecuniary damage which can be done to an 22author in general terms, my Lord, by an attack on his 23reputation. It is not merely that he suffers injury and 24hurt to his feelings from unjustified attacks, whatever 25their nature; an author, by virtue of his trade, lives a 26precarious financial existence. A tenured professor or

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1other scholar can look forward to a brief career, lengthy 2vacations, high rewards and eventually a pension. Perhaps 3some members of the legal profession enjoy the same 4fortunate expectations. 5 A writer leads a much lonelier and more 6hazardous existence. When he first embarks on his career 7he may write a string of works that are never published. 8I was fortunate in this respect. When I first started 9advertising in The Times in 1961, inviting British airmen 10who had taken part in the principal operations of Royal 11Air Force Bomber Command to come forward, among those who 12contacted me was Mr William Kimber, a publisher of great 13repute, who himself felt deeply about the ethical 14questions raised by these saturation bombing operations. 15 I , therefore, did not have the usual problem 16that faces most first time authors, namely that of 17crossing the difficult threshold from being an unpublished 18to a published author. My first book, "The Destruction of 19Dresden" was serialised by The Sunday Telegraph and 20attracted much critical acclaim. It was only then that 21I took the perhaps fateful decision to become a writer. 22 If I may now advance rapidly some 20 or 30 years 23(and I sense the court's relief) I would repeat a brief 24conversation I had with my accountant at a time when I was 25earning more than £100,000 a year. My accountant, no 26doubt with his eye on the commission involved, asked what

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1steps I had taken in anticipation of retirement. My 2immodest reply was that I did not intend to retire, and 3when he murmured something about pensions, I replied that 4my books were my pension fund. 5 If I may explain that remark? If an author has 6written a good book, it will be published and republished, 7and on each occasion a fresh ripple of royalties reaches 8the author's bank account. Admittedly, the ripples become 9smaller as the years progress, as the years recede, but if 10he his written enough books in his 30 or 40 years of 11creativity, then the ripples together make waves large 12enough to sustain him into and beyond the years of 13retirement. Indeed, they should also provide something of 14a legacy for his children of whom I still have four. 15 That situation no longer obtains, my Lord. By 16virtue of the activities of the Defendants, in particular 17of the Second Defendant, and of those who funded her and 18guided her hand, I have since 1996 seen one fearful 19publisher after another falling away from me, declining to 20reprint my works, refusing to accept new commissions and 21turning their backs on me when I approach. 22 In private, the senior editors at those 23publishing houses still welcome me warmly as a friend and 24they invite me to lunch in expensive New York restaurants, 25and then lament that if they were to sign a contract with 26me on a new book, there would always be somebody in their